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DirkFTW · 02-01-2009, 09:05 PM

Maybe RC being RC is enough for him to be the "savior"? RC doing a 180 in terms of play-calling -AND- deferring to his players in the process is a world away from our recollections of Avery.
---------------
Full-Frontal Avery
A Naked Truth About Teams' Disinterest
Mike Fisher -- DB.com
May 17 2008
...
We were long ago tipped to one of the reasons Kerr might have that view of Avery as a coach non grata: Steve Nash has a voice in that organization, just as Dirk Nowitzki has a voice in Dallas. Nash and Nowitzki are best friends who listen to each others’ voices. So when Nash is pitching in by doing his due diligence on coaching candidates, and he calls Dirk to find out what went down in Dallas. … well, you get the picture.

And then there are X’s-and-O’s issues, and matters of “fit.’’

But there might be another reason.

According to the lore (and it seems most people inside the NBA know it, and chuckle about it), the year was 2000. Avery Johnson was a season removed from his finest moment, hitting that game-winning shot to help the Robinson/Duncan Spurs to a title. He will always get credit for being a vocal and inspirational leader of that team, but. …

“This is MY team! This is MY team!’’ Avery squawked as he marched through the visitors’ locker room in Cleveland wearing nothing but a towel and too much pride. “This is MY team!’’

He wasn’t really saying it to anyone. No one was really listening. It was, maybe, like Denzel Washington’s crooked cop at the end of “Training Day,’’ a defeated Alonzo Harris theatrically howling at the neighborhood that had finally endured enough of his sociopathic bullying.

Some would argue that Avery was simply flexing a familiar muscle, that using his emotion and his voice in that manner was commonplace and acceptable – certainly acceptable to coach Gregg Popovich, who’d anointed Avery as the admittedly effective surrogate eyes and ears (and mouth) of his roster.

Others say Avery kind of snapped, maybe responding to the realization that making that shot in the NBA Finals game was his pinnacle as a player, and that there was no place to go but down.
...
Whatever the motivation, a certain group – and by that we mean most of the Spurs players in that locker room that night in Cleveland not named David Robinson – had grown tired of Avery’s chest-thumping, ghetto-preaching, ego-pumping pin-and-needling, “This-Is-MY-Team’’ing form of leadership.

Next thing you know, Malik Rose dogpiled Avery Johnson. They fought. In the locker room. Naked.

Avery was fighting to represent himself. Malik pretty much represented everybody else.

“At the end, they all wanted him out of there,’’ says one NBA lifer who counts himself as a friend of Avery’s. “He grated on them. Bad. It was a matter of time before somebody finally shut him up.’’
...
Link

02-01-2009, 09:05 PM	#55
DirkFTW Diamond Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 5,249	Maybe RC being RC is enough for him to be the "savior"? RC doing a 180 in terms of play-calling -AND- deferring to his players in the process is a world away from our recollections of Avery. --------------- Full-Frontal Avery A Naked Truth About Teams' Disinterest Mike Fisher -- DB.com May 17 2008 ... We were long ago tipped to one of the reasons Kerr might have that view of Avery as a coach non grata: Steve Nash has a voice in that organization, just as Dirk Nowitzki has a voice in Dallas. Nash and Nowitzki are best friends who listen to each others’ voices. So when Nash is pitching in by doing his due diligence on coaching candidates, and he calls Dirk to find out what went down in Dallas. … well, you get the picture. And then there are X’s-and-O’s issues, and matters of “fit.’’ But there might be another reason. According to the lore (and it seems most people inside the NBA know it, and chuckle about it), the year was 2000. Avery Johnson was a season removed from his finest moment, hitting that game-winning shot to help the Robinson/Duncan Spurs to a title. He will always get credit for being a vocal and inspirational leader of that team, but. … “This is MY team! This is MY team!’’ Avery squawked as he marched through the visitors’ locker room in Cleveland wearing nothing but a towel and too much pride. “This is MY team!’’ He wasn’t really saying it to anyone. No one was really listening. It was, maybe, like Denzel Washington’s crooked cop at the end of “Training Day,’’ a defeated Alonzo Harris theatrically howling at the neighborhood that had finally endured enough of his sociopathic bullying. Some would argue that Avery was simply flexing a familiar muscle, that using his emotion and his voice in that manner was commonplace and acceptable – certainly acceptable to coach Gregg Popovich, who’d anointed Avery as the admittedly effective surrogate eyes and ears (and mouth) of his roster. Others say Avery kind of snapped, maybe responding to the realization that making that shot in the NBA Finals game was his pinnacle as a player, and that there was no place to go but down. ... Whatever the motivation, a certain group – and by that we mean most of the Spurs players in that locker room that night in Cleveland not named David Robinson – had grown tired of Avery’s chest-thumping, ghetto-preaching, ego-pumping pin-and-needling, “This-Is-MY-Team’’ing form of leadership. Next thing you know, Malik Rose dogpiled Avery Johnson. They fought. In the locker room. Naked. Avery was fighting to represent himself. Malik pretty much represented everybody else. “At the end, they all wanted him out of there,’’ says one NBA lifer who counts himself as a friend of Avery’s. “He grated on them. Bad. It was a matter of time before somebody finally shut him up.’’ ... Link __________________ Is this ghost ball??